Iran's all powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution would be a "punch" to the world's "arrogant" powers that would stun them. "The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
The country's top cleric was delivering a speech to mark the occasion when 31 years ago the Iranian airforce gave its support to the revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979.
This year's anniversary is expected to become a flashpoint between security forces and supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have triggered one of the worst crises facing the Islamic republic since it was founded.
Opposition supporters are expected to stage anti-government protests on Thursday when the traditional regime-sponsored marches to mark the revolution take place across the country. The protests were first triggered after the June 12 presidential election which saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad return to power in what the opposition claims was a "fraudulent" poll. Khamenei told the airforce personnel that the "most important aim of the sedition after the election was to create a rift within the Iranian nation, but it was unable to do so and our nation's unity remained a thorn in its eyes."
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